Welcome to the Train Rogue Community. To help you get the most out of your time we’ve put together this introduction. Do not skip this – it will take more than 2 minutes to read, so set aside 10 minutes and read it over. It’s worth your time, I promise. It will answer about 90% of your initial questions about the program.

Beginners Mind

Before we get into the program we need to set the stage. The first thing you need to do before beginning this program is to adopt a “beginner’s mind” attitude. This means that we expect you to drop all preconceived notions about training and open your mind to new ideas. The concept can be summarized in the following sentence:

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”

Be the beginner.

Building a Foundation

The main focus at the onset of our programs is establishing adequate movement, strength, and an aerobic base. These are the foundational capacities of the human body. None of these components can be overlooked. Most people skip developing at least one of these capacities and end up paying the price.

Imagine that your body is a car. If you are out of alignment or have a wobbly wheel (poor movement) not only are you inefficient, but something is eventually going to break.

Now, say you have a lot of horsepower (really strong) and you can smoke most people in a short race, but if you have to drive across the country you’ll run out of gas quickly, probably overheat and break down. That’s kind of like a lack of aerobic development.

The opposite applies as well. If you have no horsepower (strength) you can build up speed but any loss in efficiency (some small part breaks, or you’re going uphill) means that you completely fall off the pace.

Bottom line: you need to develop a mix of aerobic fitness, strength, and movement regardless of your goals. Developing and maintaining these traits will comprise a majority of your training.

Movement Observations

I am happy to provide feedback on your execution on exercises as well as your movement in general. Read through the notes that I posted in the overview doc on your movement. Don’t take any of the comments personally. It is important for you to know about these things so you can correct them.

Take the warm up and recovery work seriously. If it wasn’t important we wouldn’t program it. And I don’t care what you read on some blog or what your chiropractor told you. That being said, if you have specific limitations or joint issues just reach out and we’ll provide solutions.

If you don’t move well all the fitness in the world won’t help you make it through selection, win the event you are training for or accomplish any goal that pushes you to your limits.

As you begin this training process, resist the natural urge to under-estimate your long-term potential and over-estimate your short-term potential. If you don’t move properly under zero load, perfectly rested, with time to think about what you are doing, there is no way your movement won’t break down when you are physically and psychologically fucked with a 60 pound pack on your back. Once your movement goes to shit it’s only a matter of time until you get hurt.

The goal is to get you moving better and stronger in all the right areas so you last longer before things break down. When the body moves the way it should you also use less energy to do the same task. This means you move faster with less energy and feel better. All good things.

Morning and Evening Routine

I want you to do the mobility work (breathing, soft tissue, mobility – see warm up) every morning. If you have time, please do them in the evening as well.

As far as the workout warm up, at first it may take a bit, but as things open up and as you learn everything it will flow quickly. If you have technique questions or don’t feel like something is working let me know. This isn’t the time to be tough. I’m not going to think you are a pussy for telling me that something hurts or doesn’t feel right. This is the time to get your body right so you can kick ass in everything you do.

Workout Notes

Never take a day completely off. If it says recovery, go for a walk, bike ride, hike, or something else fairly easy that gets your blood flowing. Movement is nutrition for your body. Your joints, cardiovascular, muscular, and nervous systems all need stimulation to elicit adaptation and recovery. All recovery is aerobic in nature, so stimulating your aerobic system (lightly) will improve recovery.

Training Log

Please use the training log tool if at all possible. You don’t have to record every last detail but please record general things such as weights used on the main exercises. I’ll be checking them periodically to see how things are going. Also, tracking your weights does wonders for keeping you honest so that you’re continually progressing.

Technique Review

If you’d like feedback on exercise technique go ahead and send us a video for review. You can do this by emailing me (jonathan@trainrogue.com) or texting me (720-474-0636). If you choose not to do this you are missing out on one of the more important components of coaching. While a squat may just seem like a squat to you, Craig, Matt, and I can see subtle compensations and provide cues to correct these before they lead to bigger problems. As we have already covered, movement is the foundation of fitness, so ignoring this is only to your detriment.

Video Database

The video database can be found here. If you don’t know what an exercise is or how to do it properly this is where you will find your answer. When you have specific questions that need visual explanations, this is where I will be uploading videos to answer your questions.

Communication

Online training is all about communication. I can’t see how you move or how you are feeling daily, so you are going to need to let me know. I don’t need to know that you are a little grumpy or don’t like to do a stretch cause you thinks its boring, but I do want to know how you are recovering from week to week and if you are having any joint or muscular pain/movement issues.

Feel free to ask other questions on things like recovery, nutrition, energy systems, etc. Everything I have you do serves a purpose, in other words, nothing is random. I’m more than happy to explain if you have questions.

On that note, follow us on Instagram. We post cool pics, tutorials, and other cool stuff there that is useful and entertaining and will keep you connected with the group. Also, we send out a weekly newsletter with actionable content. You can sign up for that if you haven’t already done so here.

Media Fast

One thing we ask all our clients to do is a fitness media fast. In other words, stop reading other fitness related media. Why? Because there are literally thousands of opinions on any subject. It has taken over 20 years of constant studying between the two of us to navigate this sea of information to distill what is bullshit and what works. We need your 100% commitment and no second-guessing. As I mentioned at the top of this letter, we need beginner’s mind. If you aren’t here to learn you are in the wrong place.

Wrap Up

The Rogue Team has both spent a ridiculous amount of time creating this program because we want to help people who are like us. If you are here, you have already chosen a challenging path. There is no need to make it harder. If you take advantage of what we pass on you will avoid some of the pointless struggles that we went through while learning this stuff.

Now that we have that stuff out of the way, I want to say that our entire team is excited to have you starting up as an online client. If you have made it this far you have demonstrated that you have the intangibles to achieve whatever you put your mind to. Now it’s time to do the work.